Creating Share-Worthy Digital Experiences

We are starting a new chapter in the digital era, one that is governed by two emerging
trends, the “always on” lifestyle and Big Data. But surprisingly, there has been little insight
into their impact on a digital brand strategy.

Tech savvy consumers have adopted the “always
on” lifestyle, resulting in a shift from somewhat sporadic
desktop and laptop use to near obsessive use
of tablet and mobile devices. The consumption
habits of those using these mediums jumpstarted a
new paradigm of digital engagement for all companies.
The second emerging trend is Big Data, which
refers to the vast amount of data being generated as
people and devices become increasingly interconnected
across a greater number of channels. Thanks
to this exponential growth of information, we’re
now able to measure more consumer actions than
ever before. Big Data can be analyzed and utilized in
a whole new way. As such, these drivers of digital
transformation have created a need for organizations
to leverage the digital customer experience as
a competitive differentiator.

Connecting the Dots

A successful digital customer experience is one
that establishes an emotional connection with
consumers, enables sustainable customer engagement,
builds advocacy and promotes brand
loyalty. The key is to connect the dots from a company’s
brand to a customer’s digital experience by
creating an engagement architecture comprised of
a combination of data strategy, brand strategy and
audience development strategy. Let's unravel what
it would take to help make this a reality today.

1. Adopting Big Data

Big Data is a game changer and should be the cornerstone
of any company’s holistic digital strategy. It
not only provides unparalleled insights into how to
create a reciprocal relationship with customers, but
it can also provide digital marketers with the insights
they need to deliver the digital experience
consumers expect today. Its prowess, however, cannot
be fully utilized without taking into account
technology and social features.

Big Data Technologies: Ultimately, the power of Big
Data hinges on the full adoption of its technology.
Fortunately, many solutions are available that address
the challenges of data access, data integration
and real-time batch processing of data coming from
multiple channels/screens (mobile, tablet, computers
and more). For example, business intelligence
(BI) and extract, transform and load (ETL) tools,
ranging from Hadoop, Mashup, MapReduce,
NoSQL to Storm, Kafka, Drill and Dremel, can help
aggregate, manage, analyze and visualize Big Data,
and not just datasets. Eventually, marketers can analyze
the filtered data directly, load it into
unstructured databases or send the data to multiple
devices to help formulate multi-platform/multiscreen
strategies. The goal is to derive insights that lead to actionable and strategic recommendations
about customer behavior, media performance and
channel effectiveness.

Social Features: It’s imperative that digital companies
create data capture models that engage endusers
at every step. Doing so will keep all aspects of
digital strategy consistent, from market and consumer
insights for segmentation (e.g. email) to
brand positioning and communication (e.g. social
media). This goes beyond just implementing social
and community features, such as social login and
social network sharing. For example, by allowing
your members to connect the ID/profile they use
on your site to multiple social media accounts, they
can share content from your site across multiple social
channels with just one click, and you will be
able to mine a wealth of data to provide more relevant
recommendations.

Similarly, advertisers can retarget their audience
on social platforms through data collected from
their own websites. For instance, advertisers can
leverage Facebook Exchange (FBX) to place ads on
Facebook for those visitors who came to their site
but left before purchasing.

2. Strategizing Brand & Experience

In the age of multi-platform publishing, organizations
must regularly motivate customer interactions
through targeted communications across multiple
channels. The new digital customer experience requires
that marketers think “holistically” about
their customers and markets, and how customers
will access those markets. Instead of focusing only
on customer acquisition, digital marketers need to
develop strategies that help understand what drives
customer behavior and how to align products and
services to a customer’s interests and desires.

Adapt Business Objectives: To begin, focus on the
fundamentals. This starts with a deep and broad understanding
of a company’s financial, strategic and
business imperatives, product and service roadmap
and marketplace competition. In particular, digital
marketers need to keep their finger on the pulse of
the industry, which includes regularly auditing
competitors, mining publicly available market data
and closely monitoring the social sphere. The results
should portray a clear picture of the brand’s
strength and positioning, how people around the
globe connect with the brand (and one another) and enable digital marketers to better align brand
strategy with business strategy.

Elevate Consumer Experiences: Customers learn
about your brand through compelling stories and
experiences via multiple touchpoints, including
websites, apps, social media, billboards, broadcast
and others. Rather than pushing information
through loosely aligned channels, focus on developing
and nurturing unique, personalized relationships
with customers. This can be achieved by
monitoring online behavior, providing high value,
personalized and timely communication, integrating
information from multiple back-end systems,
and collaborating with customers through their
own trusted channels, such as feedback forums,
communities, etc.

Case in point, when leading the implementation
of a gaming trophies system for a well-known
gaming console, our most important business benefit
was the sheer volume of consumer data we were
generating. In particular, a unique feature of this
new system was the ability to browse friends’ trophy
lists. Customers could now see what other games
their friends, as well as other users were playing,
which in turn created tremendous cross-sale and
up-sale opportunities.

Digital Transformation: Why Should You Care?

A comprehensive digital strategy is quickly becoming
a key basis of competition in every company,
regardless of size or industry. To reap the full
benefits, organizations should learn, observe and
listen to consumer interactions in order to craft relevant
brand experiences. A successful digital experience
is the combination of a well-thought-out
brand experience and a robust data engine. Digital
marketers need to be passionate, creative, thoughtful,
analytical and, above all, fueled by a passion
for innovation, which aligns with a company's
broader goals and business objectives.

About the Author: Olivier Naimi is a digital Web consultant, former
senior director, global Web platform and analytics
for Sony Corporation of America. He has held
several key leadership positions for brands, including
PlayStation, Hitachi and BEA, with responsibility for
bringing each company's assets and unique business
models to life in the digital space.